FREE health checks were available at the Weston Homes Community Stadium yesterday and I am relieved to report Albion still have a pulse.

In fact, their survival mission is alive and kicking, courtesy of a second successive away win and favourable results elsewhere, marred only by Oldham conceding a late equaliser against Crewe.

Oldham are at Withdean on Saturday. The Seagulls’ League One future hinges on four more games against teams in mid-table.

Fingers crossed they are all as accomodating as Colchester, who have now suffered 11 defeats at their new stadium to match the incompetence of Albion’s record in front of their own supporters.

The key against opponents with nothing to play for near the end of the season, other than pride, is getting your noses in front.

There was little to choose between the sides in a nondescript first half. At that stage the contest had 0-0 written all over it but Albion completely bossed the second half and, once Owusu headed them into the lead, Colchester were no longer competitive.

What a contrast it was to the capitulation after the break against Swindon 48 hours earlier. The players deserve enormous credit for the character they showed in bouncing back from a potentially fatal defeat.

The spirit was typified by the performances of the vomiting Adam Virgo against his old club and the tenacious Gary Hart, who lasted 70 minutes on his first start since September after injury problems.

Boss Russell Slade said: “Adam was sick on the pitch. He wasn’t feeling the best at half-time but he kept going and stuck to his guns and rolled his sleeves up.

“And Gary Hart is a diamond, absolutely terrific. He ran his socks off and then we got the signal that enough was enough.”

Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet were speculatively linked with the manager’s job at the weekend but Slade will surely keep it if he keeps Albion up. Even if he does not, he will still be a very strong contender.

He deserves praise as well for getting such a positive response from his players so soon after the Swindon hammer blow and also for a tactical adjustment which affected both the pattern and outcome of the match.

Colchester’s three-man central midfield restricted the influence of Dean Cox at the advanced point of the midfield diamond.

The little playmaker was a frustrated figure for much of an uneventful opening 45 minutes.

Ironically, as events panned out, he was particularly agitated with Owusu, who struggled to protect possession and to stay on his feet.

Albion’s front pair were also too far apart to combine effectively but, once Cox shifted out to the left in a switch back to 4-4-2, he found space and the game changed.

He had two decent chances at the start of the second half, the first fashioned by Hart and Doug Loft, who looked a different player once he moved from the right of the diamond into the middle of midfield.

Keeper Dean Gerken parried Cox’s shot and Pat Baldwin's tackle on Hart prevented him from converting the rebound.

The goal-saving tackle by Baldwin, Owusu’s marker, had significant repercussions. He limped off shortly afterwards and his replacement, Neal Trotman, was still getting his bearings when Owusu pounced.

A free-kick, earned by Hart with a determined run, was swung into the penalty area with pace and precision by Gary Borrowdale.

Owusu beat Trotman to it to steer a header into the roof of the net, his second vital goal in three games following his clincher at Hereford.

Like Hart, he eventually ran out of gas but Calvin Andrew and Craig Davies were able deputies, while at the other end Colchester never looked like replying against a defence admirably watertight after the Swindon disaster.

A second goal would not have flattered Albion and Davies could have ended his drought in the closing stages from Andrew’s header into his path but Gerken saved his shot with his legs.

A coincidental announcement over the tannoy that the ticket office was open after the game produced shouts of “what for” from a few miffed Colchester spectators in the main stand.

They should have been pleased with the opportunity to demand a refund!

Dean Hammond, Albion’s captain for the first half of last season and now Colchester’s, emerged from a dressing room lock-in an hour after the final whistle and admitted: “It was very disappointing.

“I think Brighton fully deserved to win the game, end of story. I think they wanted it more.”

What Albion want more than anything now is a home win.

Three points against Oldham could just lift them out of the relegation zone, which at tea-time on Saturday would have been beyond the wildest dreams of even the most ardent fan. Albion (4-1-2-1-2): Kuipers; Whing, Virgo, Elphick, Borrowdale; Dicker; Loft, Fraser; Cox; Hart, Owusu. Subs: Andrew for Hart (injured 70), Davies for Owusu (withdrawn 72), El-Abd for Loft (withdrawn 86), McLeod, Hawkins.

Goal: Owusu (57).

Yellow cards: Loft (77) unsporting behaviour.

Colchester (4-5-1): Gerken; White, Coyne, Baldwin, Lockwood; Yeates, Izzet, Hammond, Wordsworth, Hackney; Vincent.

Subs: Trotman for Baldwin (injured 55), Wasiu for Wordsworth (withdrawn 69), Cousins, Maybury, Tierney.

Yellow cards: Coyne (56) foul.